Psychology Exam

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What are sound waves?

• The stimulus for hearing

• Characteristics:

  • Frequency: distance between peaks, measured in Hz, translates into pitch

  • Amplitude: height of wave, measured in DB, translates into volume/loudness

  • Complexity translates into timbre/uniqueness of sound

What is the mechanism of hearing/structure of the ear?

• Pinna funnels sound into the auditory canal until it reaches the eardrum (tympanic membrane) which vibrates

• Ossicles (3 tiniest bones in body) vibrate

• Oval window vibrates

• Cochlear fluid in the cochlea (shell shaped thing) forms waves and causes basilar membrane to vibrate

• Cilia/hair cells embedded in the basilar membrane activate auditory nerves and sends it to the thalamus and auditory cortex (temporal lobe)

What is tonotopic organization?

• Spatial organization of the basilar membrane/auditory system that is maintained

What is place theory (how do we perceive pitch)?

• Sound waves of different frequencies will activate different areas of the basilar membrane

• High frequency hits hair cells at the beginning

• Low frequency hits hair cells at the end

• Based on this, brain determines pitch

What is frequency theory (how do we perceive pitch)?

• Frequency of the sound wave affects the rate of firing

• 1 Hz = 1 action potential

• Based on this, brain determines pitch

How do we locate sound?

• Time of arrival (interaural time difference): the ear closer to the sound receives sound waves first

• Loudness (interaural level difference): the ear closer to the sound perceives sound as louder

• If sound hits both ears at the same time, we can turn/tilt our heads or use our vision

What are cutaneous senses?

• Variety of receptors that pick up different sensations in the skin

What are the top layers of the skin?

• Mechanoreceptors: receptors that sense different kinds of pressure

  • Merkel receptor: fine details

    • Fire continuously as long as the skin is making contact with the object

  • Meissner receptor: touch

    • Fires when the skin encounters the stimulus and when it is removed

• Both respond to pressure that is applied and then removed

What are the deeper layers of the skin?

• Ruffini cylinder — stretching of the skin

• Pacinian corpuscle — vibration, texture

What is the importance of touch?

• For physical and psychological well being

What are nociceptors?

• Detect, transduce, transmit information about pain

• Found all over the body and essential for survival

What is the gate-control theory?

• In the nervous system we have a neurological gate. Its state is linked and associated with whether we experience pain or not.

• Small nerve fibres carry pain information. When gate is opened, we feel pain.

• Large nerve fibres carry information not related to pain. When gate is closed, we feel little to no pain

• T-cells are found between the fibres and the gate. It must be activated for the gate to open.

What factors affect pain?

• Pain is complex — it’s not just determined by tissue damaged but also by:

  • Stimulation

  • Beliefs

  • Stress

  • Emotions

  • Self-confidence

  • Culture

How does smell work?

• Stimulation comes from odor molecules (chemical sense)

• Must reach olfactory receptors and our nasal cavity

• We have millions of olfactory receptors

  • Sorted into 300 types

  • We can sense 10000 odors, but detect 1 trillion odors

  • Different odor molecules activate different combos of receptors

• Olfactory receptors can regen. They can degenerate due to age, smoking, pollution

• Strong connection between smell and emotions/memories since information is sent to limbic system

How does taste work?

• Essential for survival

• Food molecules dissolve into saliva and come into contact with gustatory cells (sensory receptors of taste)

• Gustatory cells are found in the taste buds in the papillae (bumps on the tongue)

• Can regen, but we might not keep the same number of cells

What are the basic tastes?

1. Sweet

2. Sour

3. Salty

4. Bitter

5. Umami (savoury, high in protein)

6. Fat (maybe? more research needed)

What are bimodal neurons and where are they located?

• Neurons that respond to more than one sense

• Located in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

What is kinesthesis?

• K sense

• Allows us to know where our body is, its position, and what our body is doing

  • Ex. you can move your feet without looking

What is the vestibular sense?

• Known as our sense of balance

• Located in the ear:

  • Semicircular canals: senses changes in acceleration and rotation of the head. Also has hair cells that respond to gravity

  • Vestibular sacs: responds to cues associated with balance and posture

• Connected to our sense of vision — David Lee’s test with moveable walls, people involuntarily stepped off a beam to keep from falling

What is memory?

• Consists of 3 complex cognitive processes: Encoding, storage, retrieval

• Can be adaptive or maladaptive (For ex. reliving a trauma which is unhealthy and distressing)

What is encoding?

• Getting the information into our memory system

• It’s like typing something in word into the computer

What is storage?

• Retaining the information

• It’s like saving your document

What is retrieval?

• Getting the information out of storage

• It’s like reopening your file and retrieving the information

What is explicit memory?

• AKA Declarative memory

• Memory with consciousness and awareness

• For example, someone asks “what is the capital of France?” and you say “Paris.” We are aware and conscious that we are retrieving this information

What is implicit memory?

• AKA Procedural memory

• Memory without consciousness and awareness

• Memory of skills that have become automatic. For example, typing (it’s hard to remember the actual keys in order, but you still know how to type properly)

What is prospective memory?

• Remembering an event in the future

• For example, we know that we’ll have an exam next week

What is retrospective memory?

• Memory of past events

What is constructed memory?

• Human’s memories are constructive — it doesn’t work like a video camera that captures and maintains everything as is

• Memories are constantly being edited; certain things are added, removed, over/underexaggerated

• Happens unconsciously

What is the function of memory?

• Essential for survival

• Allows us to:

  • Learn from experience and use this knowledge to navigate the world around us

  • Reflect on the past and learn from it

  • Have a sense of who we are

  • Make future plans and make them happen

What is sensory memory?

• Our senses collect information from the environment and hold onto it for a brief amount of time

• All our senses have their own memory

• Believed to be limitless

What is haptic memory?

• Sensory memory for our sense of touch

• Lasts for a super brief amount of time—a split second to a few max

What is iconic memory?

• Sensory memory for our sense of vision

• Could last for a quarter to half a second

What is echoic memory?

• Sensory memory for our sense of hearing

• Could last up to 4 seconds

What is the function of sensory memory?

• Without it, the moments of our lives will be disconnected and disjointed

• Allows for continuity in our perception

What is short-term memory?

• AKA working or immediate memory

• Capacity is very limited—about 5-7 items at a time

• If we don’t rehearse this information, it lasts 12-30 seconds

• Then, information either goes to long-term storage or it will fade away

What types of information get encoded in short-term memory?

• Acoustic — verbal (most common)

• Visual — clear

• Semantic — meaning

What is the working memory model?

• Short-term memory is not just a storage space

• It is a working space where we take the information held in it, and manipulate, reflect, and play with it

What are the components of short-term memory?

• Phonological loop

• Visuospatial sketchpad

• Central executive

What is phonological loop (short-term memory)?

• Processes auditory information like sounds, language (written or spoken), and our inner speech

• AKA. The inner voice

What is visuospatial sketchpad (short-term memory)?

• Processes visual information, navigates space, knows what we’re looking at

• AKA. The inner eye

What is central executive (short-term memory)?

• The most complex component that manages the flow of information between the different components and long-term memory

• Regulates our attention and allowing us to shift it when needed

• Helps coordinate our behaviours so we can accomplish our goals

What is long-term memory?

• When we hold onto information in storage for a long time

• Could last from a few minutes to a lifetime

• Capacity is believed to be limitless

What are the types of long-term memory?

• Episodic

• Semantic

• Procedural

What is episodic (long-term memory)?

• Explicit memory

• AKA autobiographical

• Memory of personal events, experiences, etc.

What is semantic (long-term memory)?

• Explicit memory

• Memory of facts and knowledge

• Doesn’t have to be accurate (could also include conspiracy theories or lies we believe)

What is procedural (long-term memory)?

• Implicit memory

• Skills we’ve acquired that have become automatic

What are the 2 major ways that information is transferred to long-term memory?

• Automatic processing

  • As we go about our day, we acquire a lot of information without putting much conscious effort into it

  • For example, if you watch a movie, you’re not actively taking notes, but you can still recall what happened

• Effortful processing

  • We invest time and energy into doing it

What are some examples of effortful processing?

These things make it easier to remember:

• Rehearsal (repeating over and over again)

• Chunking (breaking down into smaller chunks, like a phone number)

• Mnemonic devices (any technique or strategy to boost memory)

• Spacing effect/distributed practice (start studying early over multiple sessions)

• Testing effect (test ourselves over and over)

• Self-reference effect (information we link to ourselves)

• Visual imagery (things that are concrete, able to visual, and linked to an image)

What is organizational processing?

• Putting things in visual hierarchies helps us remember better

• Putting things in categories also helps us remember better

What is adaptive memory?

• We are more likely to remember better information that is linked to survival

What are the levels of processing?

• Shallow level

  • Focus on superficial aspects of information (for ex. the colour of ink used to write a word)

  • Not as likely to remember

• Deep level

  • Semantic, focusing on the meaning

  • Not just memorizing the words, but understanding the words

What is retrieval?

• Taking information out of storage and consciously remembering it

• Sometimes we can remember information on our own without any help, but other times we might need the help of hints and cues

What are retrieval cues?

• Hints we’re given to help retrieve information

What is retrieval cues failing?

• When the cues/hints we’re given are not helpful

• For retrieval cues to be helpful, they have to be relevant to the information at hand

What is free recall?

• We are able to remember something without the help of retrieval cues

What is cued recall?

• We remember something with the help of retrieval cues

What is the encoding specificity principle?

• If the conditions we’re in during retrieval are similar to the conditions we were in during encoding, then retrieval is enhanced

• For example, it’s good to do the exam in the same room where the lectures are in

What is the memory transfer principle?

• If the process we’re using during retrieval is similar to the process we used during encoding, then retrieval is enhanced

• For example, if you know the exam is going to be MC questions, it’s good to practice by answering MC questions

Who is Daniel Schacter?

• Psychologist and memory researcher

• According to him, our memory is error prone (these errors are not random)

• We can categorize them into 7 sins of memory

What are the 2 main categories of sins of memory?

• Sins of omission (3): trouble remembering

• Sins of commission (4): distorted/innaccurate/unwanted memories

What is the sin of transience?

• Sin of omission

• If we do not use and revisit our memories, they could fade away over time

What is the sin of absent-mindedness?

• Sin of omission

• We fail to remember something because we were distracted during retrieval or encoding

What is the sin of blocking?

• Sin of omission

• We’re temporarily unable to access information in our memory

• Ex. “Tip of the tongue (TOT).” And if we try to fight it, it’s even harder to remember

What is the sin of misattribution error?

• Sin of commission

• You remember something, but don’t remember the source

• Ex. Deja vu

  • You see something new and have a strong feeling that you’ve seen it before. This is because it has characteristics to something you experienced before, but can’t consciously remember where (confusing the source)

What are flashbulb memories?

• Memories of events that are very significant, vivid, and we are confident in them

• But just because they’re vivid, doesn’t mean they’re accurate

What is the sin of suggestibility?

• Sin of commission

• Our memories get distorted because of inaccurate information we receive or our own imagination

  • Misinformation effect

  • Imagination effect

What is the sin of bias?

• Sin of commission

• Our memories are influenced and affected by our own past experience, beliefs, expectations, emotions

• Schemas: mental model (expectation) we have in our mind about something or somebody

  • We’re more likely to encode information that matches our schema, and more likely to disregard information that doesn’t

  • We may retrieve our memories in a way that fits our schema

• Positive bias: we tend to remember positive stuff about us more than the negative stuff

What is the sin of persistence?

• Sin of commission

• An unwanted memory that keeps repeating and repeating

What is forgetting?

• Natural and normal part of everyday life

• The brain actively gets rid of any unimportant or unused information

• A good thing: it’s the brain’s way of cleaning up mental clutter (too much clutter makes critical thinking difficult)

AJ (book)

What is alzheimer’s disease?

• Form of dementia

• Kills neurons linked to memory

What is amnesia and the 2 types?

• Abnormal loss of memory

1. Anterograde

2. Retrograde

• Hippocampus seems to play a role in this

What is anterograde amnesia?

• Remember the past, but difficulty forming new memories

• Explicit conscious new memories is affected

• But implicit unconscious new memories may still able to be formed

What is retrograde amnesia?

• Can’t remember information from the past

• The amount that can’t be remembered differs from person to person

What is emotion?

• Complex psychophysiological processes

• Short reactions to events and stimuli

• Consists of multiple components

• Can be highly motivating, guiding and directing our behaviours

• Can be highly adaptive or maladaptive

What is physiological activation?

• All our emotions are linked to some level of this

• Ex. when we’re scared, our hearts beat hast and adrenaline is released

What is behavioral expression?

• We express our emotions with our faces, gestures, postures (nonverbal communication)

  • Ex. smile when happy, frown when sad, hit something when angry

• Facial expressions of basic emotions are innate and universal

  • Ex. babies smile/frown before socialization; blind people who have never seen facial expressions still smile/frown

What is subjective experience?

• Us being consciously aware of what we feel

What are the 2 categories people organize their emotions by?

• Valence: is the emotion positive or negative?

• Arousal: the degree to which our bodies are activated by our emotion

What is emodiversity?

• The degree to which we experience a variety of emotions in our everyday life, including negative emotions

• The higher the variety, the healthier mentally we will be

What is the difference between emotions and moods (book)?

What is Darwin’s principle of serviceable habits?

• Emotions and their behavioural expressions are the result of evolutionary processes

• They serve a purpose; enhanced survival and functioning of our ancestors, and became habits that were transmitted to us

What is Darwin’s principle of antithesis?

• When we have two emotions that are opposite (like sadness vs happiness), we’re going to express them behaviourally and physically in opposite ways

What is Darwin’s principle of the actions (constitution) of the NS?

• When arousal in the body builds up, it becomes uncomfortable and we need to release it

• By fidgeting, making sounds, etc.

What is the order of emotions according to common sense?

We see a snake → so we feel afraid → so our heart rate rises and we run away

What is the order of emotions according to James and Lange?

• They flip common sense

We see a snake → our heart beats fast and we run away → because of this, we feel afraid

What is the order of emotions according to Cannon and Bard (Thalamic Theory of Emotions)?

We see a snake → our heart beats fast, we feel afraid, and we run away (happening simultaneously and independently of each other)

What structure in the brain mediates emotional reactions to stimuli and to what other part of the brain does it report its findings according to Cannon and Bard? What’s the scientific evidence to support this theory? (book)

How are emotions conditioned?

• John Watson believed much of our emotions are learned

• We can learn them via classical conditioning

• Little Albert experiment (baby scared of the rat)

What is phylogeny?

• Our evolutionary history

• Emotions experienced can come from this, which is why we might fear snakes, spiders, heights, etc.

What is ontogeny?

• Our own personal experiences and history

• This is why some of us fear criticism but others don’t

What is interoceptive stimuli?

• Sensations we feel within our bodies

• Ex. headaches, hunger pains

What are orosensory stimuli?

• Sensations we feel in our mouth when we eat food or drink liquids

• Ex. the heat of coffee, or the sweetness of candy

What is postingestive stimuli?

• Sensations we feel in our bodies after we eat food or drink liquids

• Ex. heartburn, feeling satiated, feeling bloated

What is conditioned taste aversion?

• The taste of foods can become linked with a variety of stimuli via classical conditioning

• For ex. you eat your favourite hamburger, but it makes you sick and you throw up. After that, you never eat a hamburger again because that taste become linked with nausea and throwing up

What happens when you eat when you are hungry?

• After eating, we feel satiated and comforted

• Via classical conditioning, the foods we ate become linked with those sensations

• So when we’re hungry again, we’re likely to go for those foods again

What happens when we eat when you are not hungry?

• After eating (too much), we feel bloated and uncomfortable

• Via classical conditioning, the foods we ate become linked with those sensations

• So when we’re hungry again, we’re less likely to go for those foods again

Can we condition a sexual response?

• Yes, via classical conditioning

• Why? Conditioned stimuli predict important biological events, allowing the subject to prepare itself for the event; this enhances survival, reproductive success, and effective functioning

• But we can only condition things if it belongs to the evolutionary history of the animal

Why do we get attracted (from an evolutionary perspective)?

• Men and women have the same goal: survive and transmit genes into the future

• But due to differences in biology, they have different strategies

• Ex. Babies are very special to women because they can only make a few in their lifetime (1 baby per 9 months). So women go for signs of good genes, social status, resources, and commitment, because those factors are more likely to help the baby survive.

• But for men, they can make many babies in a lifetime. So men go for signs of fertility (small waist, larger hips), and sometimes multiple partners to make multiple babies

What is a hermaphrodite?

• Organisms that can be both male and female (both a mother or a father)

• They are a normal and adaptable part of nature